Speaking to NME magazine, Arctic Monkeys front man Alex Turner gave a hint as to what is going on with his side project, The Last Shadow Puppets, his duo with Miles Kane. Turner said, "It's something we'd both love to do at some point but I don't know what that point is. I certainly don't think it's tomorrow. Miles is doing his thing and that's going great. It's like he's become whole. Although he always was a superstar, wasn't he? It's definitely something that's on the cards in the future. Or something else – it doesn't have to be the Shadow Puppets."
Turner also spoke about the follow-up to Arctic Monkey's latest, AM, which arrived this past fall. He said, "I think I can see there being something. I can't really confirm or deny that one. I can sort of imagine what it might be. I could see it when the record was finished. We'd met the deadline, but the thing was still sort of snowballing a little bit, and for that reason, we could still find ourselves walking into another one." He did indicate that the songs are in their infancy, "The songs aren't there, it's just an idea of mine. But that's usually how it works: this time the idea definitely led the whole procession, rather than the songs themselves."
In a matter of weeks could The Walkmen be playing their final shows ever? Singer Peter Bauer told The Washington Post that the band have no further recording or touring plans after their December 14 gig in Philadelphia. He said, "We really just have no idea. I don’t think any of us wanted to write another Walkmen record. Maybe that will change down the line, maybe it won’t, maybe we’ll play shows. I think it’s weird to make a hubbub about something if there’s nothing to really make a hubbub about. At the same time, I don’t think we’ve been a gang properly for a long time, so there’s not much to break up, I guess.”
Rakim is writing a musical tribute to the living legend, Nelson Mandela. Rakim asked fans to submit quotes and ideas about Mandela to him via Twitter and the influential rapper will compose a song about Mandela using the tweets. No word as to when the song will be released.
After reuniting earlier this year and releasing their terrible new album, What The... last month, Ron Reyes has quit Black Flag (again). Reyes took to Facebook and released a statement saying, "The writing was on the wall since before we played our first show. So many things went wrong from the start. I was into things like having a good drummer, rehearsing and spending time on things like beginnings and endings of songs, being a little less distracted with tour life and a little more on the ball. You know things that would make our efforts worthy of the name Black Flag... Yes it is my opinion that we fell very short indeed and the diminishing ticket sales and crowds are a testament to that. However It was made clear to me that raising these issues was tantamount to a blasphemous stab in the back to Greg. How could I question him, his efforts and hard work? How could I dare be a fan of OFF! And or be friends and a fan of Flag? I was told that I had to chose sides. But I refuse to treat someone like an infallible Pope figure. No guitarist deserves such unquestioning blind devotion." No word if the remaining members of Black Flag will look to replace Reyes on vocals.